PekingUniversity, Beijing, Nov. 18th, 2008: On the morning of Nov. 16th, the former vice president of United Statesand recipient of Nobel Peace Prize of 2007 Mr. Albert Arnold Gore Jr. visited the University and held talks with University representatives in CHAN Sau Yan International Convention Center, PKU, which was attended by Executive Vice-President LIN Jianhua, President assistant LI Yansong, Academician of the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering TANG Xiaoyan, dean of the School of Engineering CHEN Shiyi as well as over 60 representatives.
During the talks, Gore gave a detailed presentation on the topic of global warming, illustrating serious environmental challenges worldwide due to the dramatic increase of carbon dioxide release caused by human activities, such as glacier melting in highlands and South and North Poles, big increase of world average temperature, natural disasters like draught, hurricane and flood, ecological destruction like bio-invasion and animal extinction, widespread outbreak of infectious diseases and so on. After a close analysis of the cause and effect relation between global warming and other problems mentioned above, he pointed out that there was an intense conflict between human civilization and the planet we live in, and if we human beings did not adopt new technologies and change our fixed pattern of thinking, the conflict would be more and more intensified. At last, he summarized his speech by saying that the problem of global warming had become a public awareness today, and though challenging it is, we should not fail to act but to work together to protect the Earth instead; we should pay attention to not only economic development but also environmental protection. During the two-hour speech, Gore illustrated the problem of global warming and its consequences with vivid pictures, substantial data, and touching videos, ensnaring the audience into his passionate speech.
About Albert Gore
Albert Arnold Gore, Jr., born in Washington, on March 31, 1948, is a U.S.politician and former vice president (1993-2001). Born in a family of politicians in Texas, he graduated from HavardUniversityin 1969 and joined the army in the same year. He joined the Vietnam war as a journalist. He was elected House representative in1976 and Senator in 1984, both representing Tennessee. In 1988, he failed in the race of democratic presidential nomination but he tried again in 1992 as the running-mate of Bill Clinton and was elected Vice President at last. His environmental publications include Earth in the Balance and An Inconvenient Truth. Gore also starred in the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth,which won an Academy Awardin 2007. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the environmental protection in the same year.
Edited By: Ding Zhilan
Translated By: Lin Jingxian
